Lisa Zahn

Now I know I said I didn't want this blog to be all gloom and doom, and I'm making sure my own life isn't all gloom and doom too, but I had to point this one out. Sharon has an excellent post today about the latest numbers from the International Energy Agency , the people who make it their business to keep track of energy business. The numbers are bad . The Financial Times article, based on leaked information from the IEA , states that without some miracle new source of oil, or major investment in drilling current known sources, they expect oil production to decline at the rate of 9.1% annually from here on out. Here's the quote (and it's all I can get out of the link because I don't subscribe to FT): World will struggle to meet oil demand By Carola Hoyos and Javier Blas in London Published: October 28 2008 23:32 Last updated: October 28 2008 23:32 Output from the world’s oilfields is declining faster than previously thought, the first authoritative public ...

Indulge me a bit while I post the photos from our day last week at Virginia Beach. This was the kids' first visit to the ocean, because since Grandma and Grandpa have a little beach on their property, in all our visits to Virginia we just have never taken the time to drive the hour south to The Beach. I think they both said "wow" at the exact same time at their first sight of the massive expanse of water and sky and waves lapping at the sand. I could feel the awe as they approached the ocean. What a delight for a parent to introduce their children to something so amazing! Elijah really wanted to get into that water, and it was just warm enough for the kids to put their swimsuits on and get wet. Grandpa thought we were crazy to pack the swimsuits along, but I just knew it might work out. Above you see Elijah trying to "karate block" the incoming waves. He felt powerful! (We had to keep asking him to come back out of the waves a bit.) Rose did little dances at the...

Grandma's hibiscus still blooming in Virginia Gloucester is in southeast Virginia, just off the coast and near Colonial Williamsburg and Yorktown. My in-laws live there on the Ware River, an estuary of the Chesapeake Bay. They've lived on ten acres of low land next to the water there since George was 10 or 11 years old (a long time! 1969). It's really nice to visit them, despite the distance, and every time we go I find myself amazed by what a different world they live in. Sure, it's the same country but the geography, the accent, the customs, the way the roads and houses are situated, the flora and fauna, it's all so different. Persimmons growing on the tree at Tree Lodge, the home of my mother and father-in-law. We brought six home, to ripen a bit more in the fridge, then make my FIL George's fabulous Persimmon Pudding (a Christmas treat we've been missing because we can rarely visit at Christmas anymore). My George will try to replicate it--we'll see,...

Okay, so I'm making it public that we will NEVER drive from Minnesota to Virginia again, got it? The last time I said that was about five years ago. I'm glad we made it that long, but hey, I'm now five years older and wiser and in a lot.more.pain from the long drive we just completed in our little Honda Civic. I still don't feel normal, but I did get a decent night's sleep last night and that's going to help. One of several cool bridges in Columbus, Indiana Still, parts of the drive were lovely. We started off great at 5:25 a.m. on October 16, going south on I-94 and 90 through Wisconsin, around Chicago in the early afternoon, then further south to Indianapolis. We were excited, feeling good and making good time. We stayed at a (cheap) hotel just south of Indianapolis that night and in the morning drove just a little further to Columbus, Indiana . We had read in our AAA guide that Columbus was a town of 39k people that in the 1950s had decided they were going t...

I decided to start by picking my ten favorite photos from our trip (out of 160!). Here they are: On the drive south, we happened upon Columbus, Indiana. A small town with amazing art and architecture. I loved this sculpture in the median of a road. Finding(!) the graves of my ancestors in Salyersville, Kentucky. Our first day in Gloucester, Virginia--the destination. The Battle of the Hook. An old sign found lying on the grass out by the barn. "Tree Lodge"--Gram and Grandpa's house. The kids greet the ocean for the first time, Virginia Beach. I could just feel the awe coming off them. And this one of Elijah, just because it's so cool. Uncle Paul's house in Matthews, Virginia--"Folly Farm". People in Virginia tend to name their "estates". Uncle Paul bought Folly Farm a few years back and is working to restore the old house. You just don't get that Colonial feel here in Minnesota. The kids eye their first blue crab, caught off Grandp...